Recipes

I realized that I have not posted the recipes for the treats that Jan makes each club. So here they are.

May's Club- jalapeno jelly

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly
How To Make Jalapeno Pepper Jelly

Ingredients: 13 Jalapeno chile peppers, 4 whole and 9 seeded chile peppers (see Comment #1 & #2 below) 2 medium or 1 large bell pepper (either red, yellow, or orange pepper)(see Comment #3 below) 1/3 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice 1 1/2 cups of vinegar (white or cider - didn’t seem to matter - white is cheaper) 6 cups granulated sugar 4 ounces liquid pectin (Certo Liquid Pectin ONLY) - Other brands do not work well. (see Comment #4 below) Food coloring (green or red), optional   COMMENTS: #1 - The jalapenos chiles I used for these batches were fairly large - none were small. Note: Jalapeno jelly can be pretty "hot" if you have included a lot of the seeds in your cooking. The fat molecules in the cream cheese absorb the hot capsaicin of the jalapenos, reducing the heat, but leaving the flavor of the chiles. #2 - IMPORTANT: Wear rubber disposable gloves when you clean the jalapeno chiles! It's amazing how HOT the oil from the jalapenos are.  The first batch I made, I felt that I did not need to wear gloves. After all, it's just jalapenos!  After doing the first batch, my finger and hands burned for nearly 4 hours (plus you can't touch ANY parts of your body or you will burn there too), and I could not wash the stuff off (and even the next day, my fingers were sensitive to hot water). I now always use gloves! #3 - Bell peppers were medium to large. If you use TWO bell peppers, make sure they are medium sized. If you use TWO large bells, they will make the jelly not set up because of the amount of liquid produced. Unless you cook it longer… (I have no idea how much longer).  Green bell peppers seem to make the jelly taste to much like bell pepper and it drowns out the jalapeno taste almost completely. Yellow, red or orange bell peppers are ideal for this jelly because their flavor does not take away from the jalapenos. They add very nice color to the final product.  #4 - WE tired another brand of pectin - (BALL), and it did not work well at all.  I had to open all the jars, as they did not set up, and REBOIL the liquid for an additional 12 minutes before it would set up.  USE ONLY Certo Liquid Pectin. NOTE:  You can't substitute the powdered pectin for the liquid pectin, as the jelly will not work right).  THEY ARE NOT ALL THE SAME!   IMPORTANT: Only use sterilize jars for jams and jellies. Wash the containers in hot, soapy water and rinse. Sterilize the jars by boiling them 10 minutes, then keep the jars in hot water until they are used. Keeping them hot will prevent the jars from breaking when filled with the hot product. Wash and rinse all canning lids and bands. Treat the lids as directed by the manufacturers. Lids can be used only once. Prepare only one recipe at a time because double batches may not gel properly. Use 1/2-pint jars to avoid a weak gel that may result with larger jars due to residual heat during cooling   DIRECTIONS: Remove stems from all 13 jalapenos; discard stems. Leave 4 jalapenos whole and remove seeds from the other 9 jalapenos. Chop the 4 WHOLE jalapenos very fine or puree in blender, then add remainder of the seeded jalapenos; chop medium to fine. Remove stems and seeds from bell peppers; add to blender. Add vinegar to blender to help chop and mix together. Puree until coarsely ground and small chunks remain. In a large non-reactive pot over medium-high heat, add blended pepper mixture; bring to a hard boil.  BOIL FOR A FULL 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and sugar. Place back on medium-high heat and bring back to a hard boil.  Add liquid pectin (Certo Liquid Pectin ONLY) and food coloring; again bring back to a HARD BOIL for ONE FULL MINUTE. Skim off any foam (scum) that develops with a spoon. Remove from heat. COMMENT: We would generally add some of the strained peppers to the jelly after straining. This worked well because the jelly was nice and clean looking (clear red or clear green). The strained pepper added makes it have great color and appeal. Ten (10) drops of food coloring didn’t seem to be all that much, so we have added more at times, and just added it according to what it looked like.  Have hot sterile 1/2-pint jars and lids ready. Carefully and quickly strain hot jelly into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add some of the chopped peppers if desired for more color; mix in jars with spoon or fork. Wipe any spilled jelly from jar rims. Center lids on top of jars and tighten screw bands securely, but not as tightly as possible. Test seal, after cooling, with finger. If middle pops up when pressed, jar is not sealed. COMMENT:  We usually strained the jelly after coming off the stove as we were putting it in the jars.  There were times when we didn’t have a chance to strain it because it was setting up so quickly. This was probably due to the fact that there was less liquid in the pot.  Yields approximately 6 each 1/2-pint jars.   June's Club- Nutella no bake cookies Nutella No Bake Cookies by Shugary Sweets Keywords: dessert cocoa powder nutella peanut butter oatmeal cookie Ingredients 2 cup sugar 1/4 cup cocoa 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup margarine 1 tsp vanilla pinch of salt 1/4 cup peanut butter 1/4 cup Nutella 3 cup quick oats Instructions Over medium heat, cook sugar, cocoa, milk and margarine. Boil one minute. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla, salt, peanut butter, Nutella and oats. Stir until combined. Drop by teaspoon on wax paper and cool. Refrigerate. Eat. Repeat. *note* For regular no bake cookies, omit Nutella and change peanut butter to 1/2 cup. But who wants to be regular?